£2M in Cuts as Tories fail Mid Beds

11.18.21am BST (GMT +0100) Sun 11th Sep 2005

Mid Beds District Council is having to look for cuts of 2 million pounds after the council tax was capped by the Government. Services like Tourism may disappear, and other services and grants may be slashed. Many staff may also lose their jobs. Lib Dem Group Leader Neil Cliff said " The Tory administration has been burying it's head in the sand for far too long. It's financial strategy has now been shown to be incompetent, and the result is yet more cuts in service. We will end up with few discretionary services and the council will just be an instrument of Central Government. It should be much more than that". Parliamentary Spokesman Mark Chapman added "It is clear that the decision to cap the District Council was a crude attempt to show the strength of this Government in an election year. The effects are appalling, and Labour should be ashamed. They do not care about Mid Beds residents at all. The result of their decision is going to have a huge negative impact on this area."